Alemaratalyoum
It has been an overcast day here at HQ but we have not had any rain as of yet. I am heading off to Dubai this afternoon ahead of the World Cup meeting on Saturday. Trip To Paris has put the small amount of weight on that he lost travelling and appears to be in good form. I am told they had 20mm of rain in Dubai yesterday and so the ground is unlikely to be anywhere near as fast as we are used to at this meeting. I have worked some horses over the last couple of days as we get closer to the start of the turf season. I am unlikely to have many runners at Doncaster but I hope to have some runners on the turf in the early weeks of the season.
Muatadel was fifth on Monday in a 6f handicap at Kempton, he ran respectably but he did not improve for the blinkers and he was found out for speed in a furiously run race.
We have two runners today up at Newcastle. Alemaratalyoum runs in the 0-70 7f Classified at 2:00 and he is a horse that I like. His last run at Newbury in October was much more like it and I wold like to think that he can be a fun horse for us this season. Winners have come out of that race and I would like to think he has a strong chance in what is only a four runner race. Mia Cara has won twice this Winter but meets us three pounds wrong at the weights and is more exposed than us. Touch Me ran well recently in a competitive Nursery and is also three pounds wrong but has a good Apprentice on board taking off three whilst Tranquil Daze looks sure to be suited by a step up in trip to 7f. It is a trappy affair with all the opposition having recent runs under their belts and all of them have been in form but I hope he will run well.
Zamjar runs in a valuable 6f handicap at 4:30. Newcastle have been rewarded with a strong field and Wick Powell is a deserved favourite despite being raised ten pounds for an easy win last time when we were third. Tomily beat two subsequent winners last time and if the handicapper was feeling the second had run to form then he could have been raised five pounds but he was left unchanged and if he backs that up he looks on a fair mark.
Hemingway is closely matched with us on his last run and he has a light racing weight of 8:2. None of the field can be discounted as Glorious Politics broke his Maiden well last time and has only had three runs, Unabated was highly tried last year, Leontes is a dual winner who improved throughout last year and Letmestopyouthere has some good form to his name but has been out of sorts lately. It will not be an easy task but he enjoys the course, has a light racing weight of 8:4 and should finish his race off well judging on his last two runs over course and distance.